[wildercrew]

Installed a new toilet in the basement, it was preplumbed for the shower, sink, and toilet when house was built (in 1986?). Toilet will not completely remove solid waste without flushing it several times and also has to be plunged, in addition, sometimes before it all goes down and toilet works properly again. Sewer line level with bottom of basement. Basement is a walkout. Sink in same bathroom drains fine. Shower is not complete but water ran through hose in drain works fine. Washer drains to pipes that are just downstream from toilet it does not have a problem with draining either. Any suggestions for fixing problem with flushing?

[massplumber2008]

Wildercrew... how are you? Hey, just thinking that you should lift the toilet and reinstall it. With the story you wrote out... all working good except toilet, my first plan.. easiest plan is to take toilet up, look at wax gasket on toilet flange and on underside of toilet bowl... did wax gasket get squeezed over the flange or outlet of toilet bowl...?? This happens more than you would think.

Try that first.. get back to us. Also check that your toilet tank is filling with water to within an inch of the overflow tube... also, be sure the water tube is placed into the overflow tube. If tank water height or tube placement is not correct, could also have poor flush.

Could have poor flush for more reasons, but since this is new toilet I will not go into that.. for now.

Anyway, check this out, get back to us. Next we will discuss vents... but only if necessary.

If my answer helped please RATE THIS ANSWER by clicking on button below. Thank you..

[ballengerb1]

I'm with MASS on redoing the install with a new wax ring. Is your flange flush with the floor or does it stand 1/4" above the finished floor?

[wildercrew]

Removed toilet and check wax ring... it appear to be fine... can the wax ring be install upside down?? The wax part is on top with the flange pointing down...

[massplumber2008]

No... wax must be on top. Did you check all the other things I mentioned in first post..

[wildercrew]

The type of toilet we have is one of the new Niagara types... it fills a small bin and tips over when flush... the gallons of water per flush is 1.28... does anyone have experience with these types of toilets?

I check the fill height OK.

[ballengerb1]

So you are located on the east side of the pond I'm guessing. 1.28 gallons is pretty great, the toilets I have been installing use 1.6 g/f but they do work pretty well. My next though is regarding the rough drain installed 22 years ago. It may have never been used but rod it out anyway to insure not building debris or rag was left in the pipe.

[wildercrew]

No this side of the pond... no debris or rag in pipe... next... how much venting does a toilet need??

[massplumber2008]

A toilet is required to have a 2" vent line..either coming form lavatory (sink) waste or coming out of ground by itself..look for this 2" vent.

[wildercrew]

How far away can this vent pipe be from the toilet??

[massplumber2008]

The important distance will be the distance you can't see because the connection that determines this is made underground. I was hoping you would find this vent close by.. say at the sink in bathroom. Here, the vent for sink may act as the vent for the toilet (called a wet vent). So you should see a pipe there... hopefully that is vent for toilet and that is not issue.

I'm sorry nothing obvious yet. Could be a main stack vent clogged... but I doubt that at this point. Let's try one or two more things before we start stretching our imaginations (you could even have a defective toilet bowl here... but wait on that).

Check that above again... AND YOU WILL HATE ME HERE.. but I am thinking you should remove that toilet again and try to flood the line using a hose... see how that drains when hose runs full force. By the way, did you actually snake the drain line or just the toilet/toilet connection... cause Ballenger's right that drain could be clogged a ways down line... anyway, just trying to cover bases.

Try this... get back if you dare!

[wildercrew]

Thanks for all the help... problem was venting... installed a inline vent... thanks again for all the help

[wildercrew]

Problem was sovled with a inline vent...

[massplumber2008]

Glad you are all set. Thanks for posting back to let us know.

[ballengerb1]

Wild, since you are sharpening up plumbing skills we might as well boost your vocab. That in liine vent is called an air admittence valve (AAV) A generic name could be a Studor.